What is the Lord doing?

Are you SURE this is the way?

I can just about hear it now. "Moses, are you sure this is the way?" I hope you guys won't hate me for this, but if Mrs. Moses had asked this question I wouldn't think it unreasonable. In fact, I figure that more than one of the Jews on the trek to the promised land, must have wondered, "Does God know the way?" It's not a blasphemous question if we don't ask it in a blasphemous way or with derisive intent. There were more direct routes to the land between the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea. If you have any idea where you are going, you may have noticed that you aren't on the most direct route, either. God didn't book you in first class, in fact, you might be stuck beside the road with a flat tire, at this very moment, and you wonder, "Does God have a clue?" A friend recently shared a message from Deuteronomy 8. One of the realities he pointed to was that part of God's purpose for the people of Israel was to "humble [them], test . . . [them], to know what was in [their] heart, whether [they] would keep His commandments or not" (Deuteronomy 8:2). The next verse even says that He let them be hungry. Talk about cruelty. My friend pointed out that all through the Bible we find God humbling and testing His people. Romans 8, 1 Corinthians 10, Hebrews 5:8, & 12 are several examples. There is a balance we need to see. It was not only God's intent to toughen them through difficulties that they could bear, He protected them from dangers too great for them.   “Now when Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, even though it was near; for God said, “The people might change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.”” (Exodus 13:17, NASB95) I can hear some of you, "The Lord let my brother die in a car wreck," and, "I lost my health in. . . . " Where was the Lord then? When you read those Romans 8, and Hebrews 12 passages you'll notice that there is some disagreement about destination. We think we know where we want to go. Our Lord knows for sure where we need to go. Back in Sunday School we used to sing,    "My Lord knows the way through the Wilderness. All I have to do is follow."   It's STTA.

Change is Coming, But from Where to Where?

It has been about two weeks since I shared anything to think about with you. The subject of this STTA is the reason. Few of us who have hung around for any length of time think that we can live our lives in stasis, "a state or condition in which things do not change, move, or progress" (Merriam-Webster). Besides that I've seen enough science fiction TV and movies to know that stasis is not a good state. Generally, though, we live with the illusion that the change in our lives will be manageable. I'm growing old, but at a rate slow enough that I can adjust day-by-day. My health changes, but with modern medicine I treat this, take a pill for that, and still muddle ahead. Children leave home, parents die, friends change jobs, but normally these changes are like tweaks--the bulk of our lives stay the same; the differences are not all encompassing. Sure we see in the news that there are people whose whole lives are disrupted--the refugees, the victims of horrible tragedies, or those who face maladies for which we, even with all our technology, have no solution. Those are other people, though, they exist in some realm that is extra-ordinary. The change that comes to we regular folk is handed out in palatable doses. It's packaged with easy hand-holds. It comes to us in such a way that at the end of the day we can say, "I've got this." No I don't, and I doubt you do either. I don't want to appear to put myself in the group of people, like those I mentioned above, who are dealing with change that comes so hard and fast, that it produces blackout G-force. Over the past month, though, I have seen and experienced change to an extent I know, not just theoretically, but experientially, that there is no throttle in my hand that I can use to control the ride. I'm like one of those early test-pilots. Strap in, Let her fly, grit my teeth, and hope for the best. There are several factors that have made the changes in my life of late register higher on the Change-force Meter than any time in recent memory. I was already involved in preparation for making a change when my change was changed. Here I was buying plane tickets, trying to get things buttoned down back home, thinking ahead about returning to a place of service several thousand miles from home, when--hard-right, accellerating all the while--my "orders" were changed. I was already involed in a life-adjustments--setting up housekeeping in another country and culture for four months, serving the Lord, being a missionary. These provided enough stretching that I was able to feel a bit noble. I mean, me being retired and everything. Then the change I was already comfortable with changed. Is that in the employee manual? The change that came barreling down on Kathy and me came for an ugly reason. It's because my friend is sick. He is one of those servants experiencing needle-pegging plan-revision. The new change threw me into a realm where I knew I didn't have control. Not only did I not know the lines for the new play, I found out rather quickly that the script was still being written, and the audience was already restless waiting for the curtain to rise. Don't get me wrong. I'm not looking for sypathy. Perhaps I'm just passing the tenth story on a twenty-story plunge, but I'm doing OK. Maybe it's the adrenalin, but this aspect of walking with the Lord seems clearer to me. Trust is pushing aside self-suffiency. Yieldedness is taking over territory once claimed by two word descriptions that begin with "my." The illusion that I'm in the driver's seat is harder to maintain. While I don't necessarily like all of that, I do know that it is as it should be, at least most of the time, some of the time, OK, I'm still working on it. If you are curious and want to find out about the changes in my life, you can find out more here and here. I'll warn you upfront, as these kinds of things go it's really pretty boring, tame stuff. I guess, though, when you compare it to the way my life has mostly been--pretty predictable--it is enough to get my attention, just like I hope this is enough to give you . . .   STTA. Find out about how the Son of God redeems our past, gives purpose in the present, and hope for the future, here.

Past, Present, and Future: What Remains?

Looking Ahead >>>>>:

Perhaps it is appropriate that with the New Year still in its infancy I am focused almost exclusively on the future. I don't want to sound all virtuous or anything. It's not that I'm all that forward looking, rather calendar and circumstance have conspired to make the next seventy-two or so hours full of preparation for what is next. My wife and I are packing for, making arrangement to accomodate, taking a long--very long--trip to, and saying our good-byes because of a four-month assignment that came suddenly and unexpectedly.  Just prior to this future-focus phase, I was blessed by a brief visit from my son and his family. Since he has now been out on his own longer than he was a part of my household, his visit caused me to look back into the past a good bit. It's enough to produce chronological whip-lash. Poised between the past and the future I have a couple of observations to make. I find the greatest satisfaction in watching the success of those in whom I have most deeply invested. Likewise there is great disappointment when those in whom I have poured my life don't turn out so well. Investing in others is risky. I find it well worth taking the chance. Therefore my greatest hope for the future is to invest in others today. At the end of this year I'll be dead or a year older. I'll gain some stuff and loose some some (I hope the loss is around my midsection). Will I have done anything of real value?   It's STTA. Find out about how the Son of God redeems our past, gives purpose in the present, and hope for the future, here.